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"Kitsune-no-mago" (Justicia procumbens) belongs to Acanthaceae (the Acanthus family). It is an annual herb that is distributed from Honshu to Shikoku and Kyushu in Japan, the Korean Peninsula and China. This herb grows in fields and roadside, and up to a height of 10-40 cm. The tems are 4 ridged, crawling on the ground, and rising diagonally. The leaves are oblong, entire and arranged in alternate. The spikes are borne at the tip of the stem, and pale magenta labiate flower blooms from August to October. Just looking at it for a moment, it seems to misunderstand that it is a plant of the Labiaceae or Rutaceae. The Japanese name is assumed to be a this flower similar to the face of a child fox, but it is not certain.
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